Monday, June 18, 2007

Guess who's off to the Women's Tour de France?


Moi! That's right - ME! Yeah, I'm thinking exactly what you're thinking...why would someone who is fat and out of shape think to contest a race like this? Well, the answer is sheer guts, willpower, nerve, resolve and most importantly - team orders. haha. At the moment, I'm quite nervous. But i'm sure that once I'm on the train I'll start to instead focus on how cool it is to be participating in such a prestigious event!

Here's a link to the event - www.velo-feminin.com

I leave tomorrow early morning to arrive in Nantes, France for the Teams Presentation ceremony. The good news is that i am actually on my way to great health once again. I now wake up excited to get out of bed - not good news for Tom but he'll get over it. Besides, it's good for him to spend more time propped up on the stage in my living room where he gets to stretch his cardboard legs while enjoying a better view of the backyard.

My newfound energy has helped my cycling as well. My training rides are slowly increasing in length and while the intensity remains at a calm level, the urge to ride hard is becoming stronger and stronger. As long as I am careful and continue to listen to my coach and doctor, I expect i'll enjoy a full recovery from this nagging fatigue soon enough!

Lately the weather here has been hit and miss - one moment it is sunny and warm and the other it's hard freezing rain with winds so strong it's almost dangerous to ride. A couple of days ago, as i was riding with Jonas and Christian, we got about ten minutes from home when the weather turned on us. It was sooooo bad that we all stopped at my house since i lived closest to save ourselves from hypothermia! I lent Christian some dry clothes (pink and blue Velo Bella kit, of course) so he could get back home comfortably. I wish i would have taken a photo of him in the jersey - it really complemented the sideburns!

The next day the three of us again headed out for a ride. We participated in a cyclo-tourist group ride. There are about 50-60 of these every weekend scattered throughout Belgium. This one was called Grote Prijs Sven Nys to celebrate Nys' birthday. After Jonas treated us to the entry fee (3 euros per person), we started to weave our way through Belgium, following the SN marks on the pavement. Half way through the 75km ride, we got bored and hopped on the Canal to take a direct route back to Leuven and have some coffee. About ten minutes into our journey home, we were passed by none other than Sven Nys!!! I didn't realize it was he until Jonas told me and Christian who he was! As we meandered down the canal, he came up behind us seemingly out of nowhere and passed us with ease simultaneously as we were passing two other cyclists while trying to avoid the three cyclo-tourists approaching in the opposite direction. God, that guy is beautiful on a bike!

OK, I'm off to bed so I can be fresh for a full day of travel tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!!!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

yay! I wish they had some sort of live coverage...

mindful mule said...

Congratulations - how exciting - good luck!

Big Bad Wolf said...

hey great !
Fat ? Never !
Out of shape ?? Nope
Have a ball, participating in THE Tour is ultimate the dream of a lot of cyclists.

Anonymous said...

Very cool! Congrats. You will be right near my families chalet when you finish the last stage in Arreau. We are over the peyresourde and up the vallee d'oueil. The area is beautiful. The col de tourmalet is lunar at the top of the west side that you will go up. The top is the steepest from what I remember then you descend past la mongie! Makes me wish I was over when your race goes through but I won't be there till July 10th for l'etape and the tour! Good luck. Ciao Philip

Buckles said...

wow, well done! good luck.

Little_Jewford said...

Congrats....that rocks! Kick some ass...

I'm guessing Christian isn't missing Monks in Philly...plenty of frits and Belgian beer in, well, Belgium...I doubt it but ask him if he knows Dave McDuff...one of my good friends and a T.S. Velo guy, though he hasn't raced in a long time

Other small world thing..good friends form Baltimore were in Leuven...a friend of there is a postdoc in town so they hung out and did the bike rides n' beer thing...prob. passed you and the old guys at some point

cheers

Steve

Paul Tay said...

I did not know the chick version of TdF was still goin' on. If the dude version got the El Diablo to cheer 'em on, maybe the chick version could get Santa?

gewilli said...

heck i didn't know that the Dude version was still going on...

are there riders who haven't tested positive? Are the french actually gonna let people come race?

Get me a live feed like the RAI for the Giro (the dude version) and i'll be plunked here in front of the puter watching it all...

Good Luck! And what? Ya three didn't chase Sven down and ask him to sign anything???

Paul Tay said...

Yep. Where's the FUN in NASCAR without crashes or TdF without DOPING? It ain't always a pretty sight, but, guess what? EVERYBODY watches!

Big Bad Wolf said...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2007/jun07/lgbf07/lgbf071

ouch, 37kph average.

Big Bad Wolf said...

OK , make that

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?
id=road/2007/jun07/lgbf07/default

PAB(a.k.a.CID) said...

hot dam!

bike racing is still 10% perspiration and 90% motivation...and getting the call for that race aught to be some mighty fine motivation!

best of luck to you and your team, we'll be rooting for you!

Baublehead said...

Congrats, let's just say I'm impressed.

Can I ask a question? You said you suffered from fatigue and lack of motivation? Did your doctor ever find out what was wrong? I'm currently suffering the same thing and my doctor says I'm completely healthy.

(Sorry if this question is out of place)

Anonymous said...

christine, you couldn't be fat even if you tried.

Big Bad Wolf said...

I think she abandoned today.. can't find her in the results. ;(

Anonymous said...

Ah so sorry to see you DNF! Hope you are ok and it was at least some fun while it lasted. Take care Philip

Anonymous said...

Peanut .. where areth thou ?

PEANUT said...

THANKS for all the positive supportive posts!!!! MUCH appreciated!!
Dear drunkinsprinter: Your posting name i assume is not suggestive of your fatigue situation?? My doctor said i had a virus a while ago and didnt take time off of racing and hard training, so i ran myself into the ground. It got even worse for me because my team continued to request my presence at races even when my fatigue was at its prime. did you get tested for mono? My unofficial advice: lots of water, rest, veggies, NO animal products especially dairy, stick to a low protein diet, and keep the riding easy until you are excited to ride the bike again. best of luck!!

Baublehead said...

Hey thanks a lot. Yeah, I think I have something similar. Some virus that has run its course or is close to finished, but has set me back major. I came up negative for Mono (I had it in 2003), but they can't find anything else.

I'm gonna try cutting down on animal meat and dairy. I think I've been eating too much chicken lately anyway.

Why low protein? Even soy?